New York taxes scrapped

Unlike the Republican governors we have been excoriating the last month here at the Clarion Content for the threats to refuse the federal budget stimulus money, one Democratic governor knows exactly what he is going to do with the funds.

Governor David Patterson of New York is bucking the traditional tax and spend Democrat label and using the stimulus package as an excuse to rescind an estimated $1.3 billion in nuisance taxes New Yorkers were supposed to face next year. Governor Patterson has a reputation as an outside the box thinker. Facing a massive budget shortfall, the governor had proposed taxes on everything from movies, concerts, massages, manicures, gym memberships as well as clothing and footwear priced under $110 to an 18% fat tax on non-diet sodas and an extension of the state sales tax to downloading of music, games and other entertainment.

At the time he proposed the taxes Governor Patterson said, "Everything is on the table because we don't know where the floor of this crisis is." Now, according to the New York Daily News, he is relieved, "I didn't want to do it in the first place. The reason that we would like to put money back in the hands of New Yorkers is so that they'll spend it. Not on taxes, but on ways to grow the economy."